Faculty honors students for excellence in science
By: Omsalama Ayoub
Jr. News Editor
Hudson Valley Community College students were honored with a ceremony to recognize their hard work May 1 in the Bulmer Telecommunications Center.
“You work hard in silence and in due time, it shows,” said dental hygiene major Maria Marcano, recipient of both the Robin Henkel Memorial Scholarship and the Second Chance Scholarship. “I feel it’s very rewarding to know my hard work is impactful.”
The Robin Henkel Memorial Scholarship commemorates the mother of a dental hygiene major who died before her daughter’s graduation.
According to Marcano the cost of materials and instruments for patient treatment makes the dental hygiene program expensive.
“The scholarship alleviated some of the financial burden associated with the program,” said Marcano.
Marcano said that she hopes to obtain a bachelor’s degree and join Hudson Valley Community College’s dental hygiene faculty.
The ceremony was followed by the Biology Chemistry and Physics Department Student Awards, coordinated by Dr. Danica Nowosielski and Dr. Wenda Quidort. Excellence in the classroom and laboratory was recognized along with the two winners of the Chemistry Olympiad.
The Chemistry Olympiad was a 30 question challenge of students’ knowledge in General Chemistry 110 and 111. Students employed the Hasselbach-Henderson equation. Knowledge on kinetics, enthalpy and dimensional analysis comprehension was also tested.
“It was pretty crazy actually, I thought I was going to do pretty good,” said biological sciences major Zachary Hansen, a winner of the Chemistry Olympiad. “I didn’t know that I was going to go to a ceremony and dress up fancy and shake [Dr. Schaffer’s] hand.”
“It shows students that their hard work matters and that we appreciate get to recognize them,” said chemistry professor Dr. Lamyaa Hassib. “We really do think they’re special and we think they’re deserving of that.”
Winners of the Laboratory Excellence in General Chemistry Awards received a survival manual for organic chemistry written by Dr. James Zubrich.
Winners of the Excellence in Organic Chemistry Laboratory won the 99th Edition of the Crc Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. The handbook, valued at $200, signified an era of progress and feats. Winners of the chemistry olympiad received Amazon gift cards.
“It made me feel really, really good that my professor had that much confidence in me and felt that I was excelling so well as to present me with an award,” said Melissa Kern, a biotechnology major and award recipient for excellence in molecular DNA techniques.
Kern, a mother of two, is pregnant. She is taking 16 credits worth of classes, all of which involve lab work.
The students lives are a part of their identity, while it challenges them it also brightens their lives.
“It’s a chance for me to show students how appreciative and how proud [we are] of their high achievement in the lab or in the class,” said Hassib.
Mikayla Fitzpatrick, a biotechnology major, won an award for Laboratory Excellence in Chemistry. Fitzpatrick connected the dots stressing the tedious significant figures work and recounting her appreciation of being nominated.
Marcano has some advice for Hudson Valley Community College students.
He said, “My biggest takeaway has been to stay organized. When you’re passionate about something it shows in your work and you stay on top of things a little easier.”